Chapter 621

Night.

The vicinity of Demon Suppressing City is utterly desolate; the ground has been pummeled time and again by the sun's golden shuttle, scorched until it shines like glazed tile, then shattered repeatedly by brutal battles, leaving no vegetation, and whenever the wind rises, the sky fills with blowing sand.

Translate: "The area around Demon-Suppressing City was extremely barren; the ground had been repeatedly bombarded by the solar golden shuttle an unknown number of times, scorched to resemble glazed tile, then shattered again and again by fierce battles, leaving no blade of grass on the surface; when the wind blew, it was nothing but endless sand and dust."

Need to keep numbers? none. Keep meaning.

On the terrace of the highest deckhouse in the middle of the Four Spirit Warship, there was a small table, with Wu Tie and Bai Ying sitting opposite each other across the small table.

On the small table were four exquisite dishes; though entirely vegetarian, they gave off a rich fragrance that made people salivate.

Besides that, there was an exquisite Qiankun pot; inside the fist-sized Qiankun pot were stored 3,600 varieties of aged liquor aged over a hundred years, each amounting to tens of thousands of catties.

At this moment, poured from the Qiankun pot was the supreme fine liquor "Amber Osmanthus Fragrance"; the liquor was bright golden and translucent, its aroma rich yet restrained; each sip sent a waft of richness straight into the viscera, and even for a body cultivator at the Fetus Storage realm, it had the miraculous effect of purifying the flesh and refining the five viscera.

"Please!" Wu Tie raised a small translucent celadon wine cup and offered a cup to Bai Ying.

"Thank you, Prince An." Bai Ying narrowed her eyes, raised her long elegant brows, lifted the wine cup, covered her face with her sleeve, and quietly drank the cup.

From the side, in the direction of Zhenmo City, came Zhao Bao's miserable howl.

Then came the sound of swords and spears being drawn, followed by Wu Jin's shouting, and the lash of a whip striking flesh.

After a commotion, Zhu Jiu and Long Ying came back laughing "heehee haha", proudly raising their eyebrows at Wu Tie: "That Zhao Bao, indeed was peeking around there, and we gave him a good beating."

Wu Tie smiled and said nothing.

Bai Ying gave Zhu Jiu and Long Ying a glance: "Go easy on them, don't truly offend the Zhao clan; after all, the Zhao clan's foundation is not to be underestimated… We are using the pretext of presenting a gift to Prince An, so we can openly associate with Prince An..."

Zhu Jiu cut off Bai Ying's words: "Understood, known, clear, don't worry… It's just to make Zhao Bao a witness, so some people will know how we got cozy with Prince An's manor, right? Tsk, fine, now they surely know; our Bai Ying Merchant Association now has ties with Prince An's manor, and given Prince An's overbearing notoriety, they won't dare provoke us lightly anymore."

Wu Tie spread his hands helplessly; Zhu Jiu had said that.

Zhu Jiu and Long Ying waved their fists at Wu Tie, then leapt down from the deckhouse, jumped off the Four Spirit Warship, and ran straight to the giants eating roasted meat by the bonfire. Soon after, the two women's work chants were heard; they had fashioned an extremely sturdy rope and began a tug-of-war with several silver giants, enjoying themselves immensely.

"Your Highness, did you come especially to find this king?" Wu Tie looked curiously at Bai Ying.

After parting for years, Bai Ying and Zhu Jiu, leading the remnants of the former Crown Prince's Eastern Palace retinue, departed southwest; since then Wu Tie has never seen them again, not even able to gather news of them in the Demon-Sealing Hall; the entire Eastern Palace entourage seemed to have vanished from the world.

Upon this reunion, Bai Ying, Zhu Jiu, and Long Ying appear unchanged, yet the entire Da Jin Divine Kingdom—and even Wu Tie himself—have changed enormously.

No, I truly came to Zhenmo City to purchase slaves; I didn't expect to run into Prince An. Think about it: in the future we will need to reconnect with Prince An, so let these Demon-Sealing troops serve as witnesses, and openly present a gift to Prince An.

Bai Ying smiled lightly, lifted the small wine pot, and poured another cup for Wu Tie and herself.

Then, Your Highness, what are you now?" Wu Tie looked at Bai Ying with great curiosity.

Bai Ying… her methods are far more formidable than those of her hot-tempered sister; this tactic of borrowing strength, leveraging influence, and using a tiger's skin as a banner has left Wu Tie quite amazed.

Just now, Zhao Bao was merely curious why Bai Ying had run to Wu Tie's flagship in the middle of the night, taking a few deputy commanders to the city gate tower to look this way; Zhu Jiu then leapt over and pointed at Zhao Bao, loudly scolding, "What are you looking at?"

After a few words of disagreement, Zhu Jiu and Long Ying came to blows, and with a couple punches knocked Zhao Bao to the ground, where he lay twitching.

Poor Zhao Bao, these past few days he's already been beaten several times by Wu Tie's men; he really can't do anything against Wu Tie, but as for these two petty girls from the civilian merchant associations, can Zhao Bao not handle them?

At his command, Zhao Bao ordered his subordinates to seize Zhu Jiu and Long Ying alive.

As a result, Wu Jin immediately led a large force to surround them, then whipped Zhao Bao again, while warning him that the Bai Ying Merchant Association is an honored guest of Prince An's manor; if Zhao Bao dares to harm even a hair of the Bai Ying Merchant Association, it would be tantamount to declaring war on Prince An's manor.

A great beauty ran to Prince An's flagship in the middle of the night, and then Prince An's trusted chief general leapt out to back her merchant association… Even if Zhao Bao were a fool, he should know what happened, right?

Naturally, the Bai Ying Merchant Association thus formed ties with Prince An's manor.

Wu Tie, seeing Bai Ying's arrangements, thought she had come specially to find him, but he never expected she was simply going with the flow; she really had come to Zhenmo City to purchase slaves.

However, the Bai Ying Merchant Association—does this signify that the remnants of the Eastern Palace have emerged from seclusion into the world, ready to show their mettle?

Think of the wealth and treasures the former Crown Prince Sima Sheng of Da Jin took from Anyang City; consider Sima Sheng's covert connections and networks among the populace and court; then think of the mothers of these two princesses, Bai Ying and Zhu Jiu, and also their maternal uncle who is currently cultivating his body and mind within Wu Tie's Prince An manor, possessing divine-realm battle prowess, Xi Yao…

Wu Tie felt that this already chaotic Qingqiu Divine Kingdom was likely to become even more tumultuous by a third.

"I, the Long Princess, am now the Imperial Father's appointed Long Princess." Bai Ying's lips curled slightly, she gave Wu Tie a light smile: "If nothing unexpected happens, after the Da Jin Divine Kingdom reforges its rivers and mountains, I shall become the Divine Emperor of Da Jin Divine Kingdom, and also the first female emperor of our Da Jin over these many years."

Wu Tie's hand holding the wine cup suddenly stiffened; he stared blankly at Bai Ying.

Bai Ying… the Long Princess of the Da Jin Divine Kingdom?

The future empress?

Sima Wuyou, that old coot, what is he playing at? Wu Tie felt a bit muddled…

"Your… uncle?" Wu Tie asked Bai Ying, a bit maniacally.

"You mean my second uncle? His reputation as a dim-witted ruler resounds throughout the world, and he has already abdicated; even if the rivers and mountains are reforged, could he regain the throne? Obviously not." Bai Ying laughed lightly: "Therefore, the Imperial Grandfather's appointment pleases me and my father's old retinue."

Wu Tie raised his wine cup, opened his mouth, poured the fine liquor in, and gulped it down with a 'gulg'.

Fine, this is your Sima clan's family affair; play it however you like.

Wu Tie, as long as he guards his own little plot of land… heh, do whatever you want.

"The Retired Emperor is sage, with the Long Princess at the helm, when the realm's rivers and mountains are reforged, the common folk will be blessed." Wu Tie chuckled, set down his wine cup, and bowed to Bai Ying: "Your servant wishes to follow the Long Princess's lead, to lay down my humble life for her… Well, may the Long Princess later reward your servant with a dozen or so prefectures as fief, not be stingy like Linghu Qingqing."

Bai Ying laughed, her eyes crinkling.

She extended a hand, pointed at Wu Tie, and softly laughed: "Prince An has a thick skin; his Nine Provinces fief, in population, wealth, and output, rivals dozens of other prefectures… Heh, when I ascend the throne, I will exchange Prince An's current Nine Provinces fief for the newly opened hundred and eight frontier prefectures; would Prince An be willing?"

Wu Tie gave a dry laugh, hastily bowed to Bai Ying: "Your Highness, you jest, you jest; what I want is the newly added fief, the newly added, and my original fief—you cannot take it away… You cannot be even more miserly than that old traitor Linghu Qingqing."

Bai Ying flared up, her mouth twisting, and candidly said she had never in her life seen someone like Wu Tie.

Wu Tie himself seized the wine pot, pulled a large sea bowl from his sleeve, filled it with a 'gurgle-gurgle' of fine liquor, gulped it down in big mouthfuls, then smiled and nodded to Bai Ying: "Your Highness, please excuse me; I am a rough soldier from the army, and drinking is better done in a large bowl… Hmm, strange?"

Bai Ying narrowed her eyes at Wu Tie gulping the liquor, smiled, and asked him: "Where is it strange? What's strange?"

Wu Tie gazed at Bai Ying, pondered a moment, then asked her: "Your Highness, when will you and His Majesty…"

Bai Ying fell silent for a while, her smile gradually fading.

She lifted her head, gazed at the pitch-black sky holding that half-moon and the few feeble stars far away, and said softly: "Not long ago, my cultivation and Zhu Jiu's broke through together… That was when we awakened a fragment of our father's legacy hidden in our blood."

"Back then, the father and the Imperial Grandfather staged a fine performance: the Imperial Grandfather secretly escorted them, allowing the father to lead the most loyal retinue of the Eastern Palace, sweep up the treasures of Anyang City, and depart safely."

Wu Tie stared at Bai Ying in astonishment, then slapped his thigh: "Indeed so; I have heard the tale of the Eastern Prince's retinue from those years and wondered how they could have escaped Anyang City so easily—now I understand."

Bai Ying narrowed her eyes at the moon in the sky and said softly: "Over these years, the remnants of the Eastern Palace have been hidden in a southwest forest that isn't particularly remote, yet the Demon-Sealing Hall, the imperial secret agents, and even the military's Central Command spies have all failed to locate the Eastern Palace."

Wu Tie understood: "Is this also the Majesty secretly escorting them?"

Bai Ying laughed brightly: "So you finally get why the one who found the Eastern Palace's garrison and leaked the news was from the Secretariat Hall, right? The Demon‑Banishing Hall and the royal secret agents—most of them are just going through the motions; the ones really working hard to track down the Eastern Palace's whereabouts are still Linghu Qingqing's people."

Wu Tie licked his lips, put a black hat on Linghu Qingqing: "As it turns out, Linghu Qingqing has harbored disloyal intentions all along."

Bai Ying pursed her lips and said coldly, "Or rather, Linghu Qingqing is a good dog, truly a good dog……"

Wu Tie narrowed his eyes at Bai Ying: "It's obvious, he's not a good dog of the Sima clan, uh…… above?"

Wu Tie pointed at the sky.

Bai Ying burst into laughter, her smile pure and beautiful as a painting, causing Wu Tie to involuntarily zone out a bit.

"You're quite bold, Prince An…… It seems you've also seen and learned quite a bit……" Bai Ying's smile widened as she softly said, "Otherwise, what do you think? With Linghu Qingqing's strength, on the Three Kingdoms battlefield, how could his Linghu clan have seized the Heavenly God's Order so many times?"

She snorted, Bai Ying's smile faded, and she said coldly, "Not mentioning anything else, speaking purely in terms of cultivation and combat strength on the imperial court of the Great Jin, the First Army is absolutely not someone Linghu Qingqing could match…… let alone, the Xiang clan still has a few old madmen, and…… Gongyang Sanlü usually doesn't make a move, but if he were to truly face Linghu Qingqing, His Imperial Majesty says Linghu Qingqing has a sixty percent chance of defeat."

Bai Ying shook her head: "Let's not talk about that hateful old coot…… One day, this palace will exterminate his nine clans…… In any case, after this palace and Zhu Ji received the message left by our father king, we pondered for a long time and still got in touch with His Imperial Majesty."

Wu Tie nodded slowly, that's right.

He also raised his head, gazing at the dark, heavy sky, at the half-moon lacking much brightness up there, and at those few dim stars.

Compared to half a year ago, when the starlight poured down like a flood, compared to those brilliant, radiant, enormously huge stars and moon, the night sky before us is practically like a vulgar New Year's painting doodled by a market artisan.

Fake, too fake.

Wu Tie strained to sense the starlight and moonlight in the void; if half a year ago that seven-day starlight illumination was like the Milky Way pouring backward, then now the star-energy essence hidden in the void's starlight and moonlight is like a miser holding a needle, dipping it in water, and slowly sprinkling down droplets of starlight.

"Those, divine spirits……" Wu Tie poured himself another bowl of wine: "Are they really divine spirits?"

Wu Tie steered the conversation toward a more dangerous direction.

"They?" Bai Ying gave a cold laugh: "If strength alone makes one a divine spirit, then this palace and Zhu Ji have already……"

Bai Ying smiled, shook her head, lifted her wine cup, and slowly drank a cup of wine.

"However, this palace will not forget the letter our father king left for us sisters…… This palace's mother, with that extraordinarily miraculous bloodline, we sisters were originally meant to gestate in the womb for twelve years before being born."

"It was they…… the good dogs, who launched a night raid on the Eastern Palace, gravely injuring this palace's mother, scattering her origin essence blood, putting us sisters in danger of dying young."

"Or it was the pair of primordial yin-yang treasure lotuses taken out by His Imperial Majesty; this palace's sisters relied on those primordial yin-yang treasure lotuses, nurtured by primordial qi in the lotus pod, preserving a trace of our mother's bloodline power, and only after six thousand years were we born."

"The grudge for killing our mother, the hatred for our early demise, the resentment for our fallen state…… this palace will eventually settle scores with them one by one."

Bai Ying rose to her feet, gave a light leap, and landed on the balcony's railing; she stood on tiptoe on the railing, opened her arms, and embraced toward that half of the moon in the sky.

At that moment a strong wind suddenly blew; Bai Ying's white long dress, faintly glowing, fluttered in the breeze, making her seem like a celestial being about to ride the wind, light as she almost drifted with the gale toward the moon in the sky.

Wu Tie stared blankly at Bai Ying, who bore the air of a flying celestial.

Under the moonlight, Bai Ying's whole body seemed to glow. Wu Tie faintly felt that perhaps he would never forget this sight before him in this lifetime.

"After reforging the mountains and rivers, this palace will surely…… break open this heavenly canopy, to see what this true world actually looks like."

"This palace wishes to go above that firmament, to behold the true world, the true universe, the true starry sky!"

Wu Tie fell silent, he lowered his head to look at the big sea bowl before him, then suddenly broke into a grin.

After all, people ought to set for themselves some higher, seemingly unattainable goals. Perhaps that is what a dream is? Give oneself a loftier dream—who knows, maybe one day he will actually achieve it?

Previously, Wu Tie, in the Wu clan's Shibao, only wanted to know whether the sun, moon, and stars truly existed; he was curious about the miraculous things described in the books that Grey Master had told him about, wondering if they really existed.

Now, he has already walked out of the underground world, he has already broken through that thick rock layer, and he has already seen this expanse of sky before him.

But Bai Ying said there is a heavenly canopy here that blocks the true starry sky.

So then, let's go crazy…… One day, Wu Tie will also have to break open this heavenly canopy and see what sight lies above the firmament.

Wu Tie's bloodline boiled.

The bloodline inherited from his ancestors boiled—it was a fervent longing for the starry sky.

Before Wu Tie's eyes, magnificent and wondrous images kept surfacing—these are the memories his ancestors engraved deep in his bloodline.

Once upon a time, once upon a time, Wu Tie's ancestors bathed beneath the true starry sky!

At this moment, Wu Tie's divine fetus trembled.

At this moment, the jade disc projection trembled.

At this moment, within the god-slaying whip, specks of stellar essence continually merged into Wu Tie's divine fetus, while strands of Dao patterns condensed from great Dao laws rapidly spread across the divine fetus.

At this moment, Wu Tie's heartbeat resonated faintly with the throbbing of the earth's veins below.